First off, I’d never smoked a turkey until this time last year. It turned out so well, that I tried my hand at smoking just the breast a couple of times afterward. They were so good, that I thought I’d try it for the entire extended family for Thanksgiving this year. So, I asked the wife to pick me up a couple of turkey breasts. The ones she found must’ve been from Turkeyzilla, as they were about 10 lb. each. Those were some mighty big breasts, so I wasn’t sure how long it would take. Normally, I can smoke a turkey breast in about 3 hours, but I thought 20 lbs. of turkey breasts would take longer than that.

First of all, I spatchcocked both breasts. I have a great knife that cut right through that backbone on both sides, rib bones and all…no problem. So, I was able to spatchcock them both in no time at all. Then, I brined them for 18 hours in this brine:

·2 Gal Water

·2 Cups Kosher Salt

·3 Cups Brown Sugar

·2 Tbsp Black Pepper

·1 Tbsp Dried Rosemary

·1 Tbsp Thyme

·½ Cup White Wine

·¼ Cup Worcestershire

·¼ Cup of my homemade rub

The turkey breasts getting ready to come out of my brining bucket.

I use a lot of different rubs, for different meats. But, I just happen to like this brown sugar based rub with poultry.

·½ Cup Brown Sugar

·¼ Cup Chili Powder

·¼ Cup Paprika

·2 Tbsp Cumin

·2 Tbsp Garlic Powder

·2 Tbsp Mustard Powder

·1 ½ Tbsp Kosher Salt

·1 ½ Tbsp Course Black Pepper

·2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

After I got my smoker going and running TBS at about 250*, I took the turkey breasts out of the brine, washed them off good and rubbed them with olive oil. Then, I sprinkled my rub all over and threw them on the smoker breast-side down for about 2 hours. By starting them breast-side down, you can get a good crisp skin on the breast, due to the olive oil rub.

After a couple of hours, internal temp was up to 140*, and we needed to get to 165*. So, I turned them and waited...they were already looking good. It was about an hour later when the internal temp reached 165*.

I took them off the smoker immediately, wrapped them in foil and let them rest for about 30 minutes. The Turkeyzilla breasts were the best ones yet…very tender and juicy, with a great smoked taste. Even the ham lovers in the house thought they were better than the ham.

Looking forward to doing some more at Christmas. But, we've decided turkey isn't just for Thanksgiving and Christmas anymore at our house.